A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, on Monday, urged the organised labour to restrategise, unite and chart a common course that would ensure Nigerians enjoy dividends of democracy.
Agbakoba spoke at a May Day Lecture organised by the United Labour Congress in Lagos, with the theme: “Trade Union Movement and the Quest for a Virile Economy: 2019 in Focus’’.
According to him, the organised labour movement should not allow the mistake of the past where a democratic process was started and abandoned to repeat itself.
He said that without a strong labour union, it would be difficult to achieve a change in a democratic rule.
He said: “Labour movement is important in any country. I advise you to take charge of democratic space and make it vibrant.
“But we cannot have a divided labour movement, so you must strategise.”
The legal practitioner said that labour movement needed the media and should work with relevant stakeholders in order to have a vibrant labour movement and democracy.
In his remarks, Joe Ajaero, ULC’s President, reiterated the need to increase the national minimum wage for workers to be able to adequately cater for the welfare of their families.
Ajaero, however, pointed out that the wage increase should not be delayed because there was no provision for it in the 2018 budget.
Elishama Ideh, a member of the Nigeria Intervention Movement, called for the inclusion of high ratio of women in politics to bridge the huge gap between the male folk.
Ideh said that women should be given opportunity to play vibrant roles for the development of the economy.
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